Edward Hill and the search for gold

Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical Society

The man who was credited with discovering gold on the January 4th, 1855 in Blackwood, and who received the £300 reward, was Edward Hill.

Edward (John) Hill arrived in Australia with Isaac Povey in 1854. Edward Hill and Isaac Povey came from West Bromwich, in Staffordshire, near Birmingham in England. Hill and Povey were said to have first gone to Sydney where they worked on the Sydney Mint at their trade as bricklayers. Later they arrived in Melbourne and made their way to the Mount Blackwood ranges. Within a year Isaac Povey caught a chill and died, age 24 years, on the 10th July 1855.

As there was no cemetery at that time in Blackwood, Edward Hill buried his friend on his claim, in a coffin made of sheets of bark, on the summit of the hill now known as Deadman’s Hill, Simmons Reef, and marked the grave with stones and a wooden tablet. Today a headstone in the bush marks the place where Isaac Povey died.

After the death of his mate Povey, Edward Hill went about the business of making his fortune in gold mining, after reading a course of lectures delivered in England three years before, at the Society of Arts, on the goldfields of Australia. One of these lectures particularly mentioned that Mount Blackwood, from its geological formation, would be a likely place for gold. Hill applied to Captain Buckley at the Survey Office in Melbourne for permission to take a tracing of the district for the purpose of using it in prospecting that area and was allowed to do so.

Hill states he struck gold on what was called after him Hill’s Tent, at Ballan Camp, Red Hill (Blackwood). A monument near this spot is to be seen to the right before the bridge to the Sports Ground.

Edward Hill, in his belief that the government had offered a reward for the discovery of a new goldfield, went to great lengths to claim his reward. He wrote to the Governor, Sir Charles Hotham, on June 15th 1855, but to no avail. He tried again in 1857 with a lengthy letter to the colonial Secretary of Victoria. Hill followed this up with another letter in 1858 and two more in 1859.

Finally, on September 25, 1863, the Government recognised his claim as the discoverer of the Blackwood Goldfields by granting him a reward of £300.
Hill, perhaps more than anyone, by his determination and courage, deserved this reward for his belief in Blackwood being a gold bearing area. His sheer determination to be the discoverer of the Blackwood goldfield typifies the type of men who mined and persevered in those early days.

Hill’s descendants remained in Blackwood and were still mining in the area until the early 1900’s.

The last of the mining Hill’s, Charlie Hill, died in 1976 aged 85 years. The Canns, Mathesons, Skinners, and Williams families of Blackwood are related to Edward Hill.

On March 12th, 1891, the Bacchus Marsh Express reported the ‘death at Simmons Reef of Mr. E. Hill, the oldest man and pioneer on Blackwood who died at Simmons Reef on the 12 March 1891 age 78 yrs and was buried in the Blackwood cemetery. A goodly number of people were said to have followed his remains to their last resting place. Mr. Dredge, the Wesleyan minister, conducted the funeral service and gave a lengthy and stirring address to the assembled on the life of the pioneer.’

On obtaining a copy of Hill’s death certificate, a curious discovery was found, in that Edward Hill’s name was in fact John Hill, and he is buried under that name in the Blackwood cemetery. He was listed as age 78 years of Simmons Reef and a builder. He died of Apoplexy and Paralysis (stroke). Doctor being, Dr. Edward Plews. Informant was his son Edward Hill, Engine Driver of Blackwood.

He was born in Wendsbury, Staffordshire, England. He had been one year in New South Wales and 34 years in Victoria. He was married twice, firstly to Hannah Cox who died and then to Hannah Thornton. His children were listed as James deceased, Sarah 53 yrs, Helena 52 yrs, John 50 yrs, Edward 47 yrs, Joshua 44 yrs, Joseph 41 yrs and by second wife Samuel age 38.

Edward Hill is buried in the Blackwood cemetery and a headstone records him as Edward John Hill. Buried with him is wife, Hannah Hill (nee Thornton) buried 14th May 1887.